The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is ramping up its investigation into a “fish kill” event in the Hunter River near Singleton.
The organisation has also established a meeting with representatives from various state agencies, Singleton Council and key stakeholders to ensure a whole of government response to the incident, which occurred at Mount Thorley last week.
It comes after teams of officers have conducted water samples and follow-up leads since being informed of the matter on Friday 20 March.
NSW EPA director operations David Gathercole admitted the EPA had directed significant resources to the issue.
Water samples are being processed by the laboratory as a high-priority, too.
“Yesterday [Monday] our officers saw live fish, including juvenile fish fry, swimming in the river and fish that appear to have died last week,” Mr Gathercole said.
“This indicates that whatever caused the deaths may well have passed.
“There can be many reasons for fish death events, including natural reasons, such as low dissolved oxygen or human causes such as pollution or pesticide spills.
“Our investigations are continuing into all possibilities.
“We have prioritised water quality testing and will let the community and industry know when water quality is within normal limits.
“Also, we acknowledge the community’s concern about this issue and appreciate the help they have provided us.
“We are following up information from residents.
“If anyone has evidence they would like to share with us, please send it to our Environment Line via [email protected].”
As a precaution, the EPA recommends anyone swimming in the river follows standard NSW Health advice not to drink any untreated water.
For downstream users who don’t need to extract water from the river could err on the side of caution and wait until the EPA has confirmation that the water quality is normal.
For more news stories:
- BusNSW slams report into Newcastle’s privatised network
- Screaming Jets founder leads well-wishes for Newcastle musician Greg Bryce after sickening attack
- Another charged over Pokolbin winery break-ins
Get all the latest Newcastle news, sport, real estate, entertainment, lifestyle and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Newcastle Weekly Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.
